Mid-sized wader bird (approx 27 cm or 10.5 in). Grey-brown plumage with a sharply mottled breast in summer (more lightened in winter). Long and red legs. Long, straight bi-coloured bill, red at the base and black in the tip. In flight there is a clear band at the back edge of the wings and a clear wedge at the end of the back. Short tail with dark transverse stripes.
Wetlands
Inland and coastal waters with plenty of vegetation cover. Edges of channels and saline lagoons.
Wintering species in the province that enters the summer period as a migrant, but without breeding in Malaga. Nest on the ground. One laying of 3 to 5 eggs at the end of April. It feeds on insects, snails, worms, molluscs and crustaceans that it catches by poking around the silt.
It can be watched in areas with coastal rock fields such as Calaburras. In the mouths of the Guadalhorce and Vélez rivers and in the Fuente de Piedra and Campillos lagoons. Mouths of coastal rivers, such as the Guadaiza.
Redshanks are scary birds that at the slightest sign of human presence or danger emerge in terror singing their warning, a melancholic and repetitive song.
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